PHOENIX — A missing 25-year-old woman has been identified as one of two people found dead inside a car in a West Phoenix parking lot in early July, police said.
Phoenix police said a man and a woman were found dead inside a vehicle on July 7 around 8:25 p.m. Witnesses told officers the vehicle and the people inside appeared to be in the same place for several days.
Detectives said the man had a possible gunshot wound and found a firearm in the car. In an update sent on July 19, police identified the two people as 25-year-old Doris Maricela Aguilar, who was reported missing on July 1, and 51-year-old Juan Jose Velis Cuellar.
The Office of the Medical Examiner determined the gunshot wound Cuellar suffered was self-inflicted. Phoenix Police Public Information Officer Rob Scherer said Aguilar's gunshot wounds were not self-inflicted.
Scherer said Aguilar and Cuellar knew each other but did not comment any further on how they knew each other. Scherer said Aguilar's car was also found at a separate location.
A private investigator who was hired to find Aguilar said Cuellar had been stalking her for more than a year.
“He was obsessed to the point where he had a picture of her taped to the back of his cell phone."
“She had made it clear to her family that she was scared of him to the point that where she had told family that something happened to her, that it would be him that would be responsible," said Steve Fischer, a private investigator who had been searching for Aguilar.
Fischer said the two met while working at a distribution center. He said Cuellar was fired from that job after making inappropriate advances towards Aguilar.
“He was obsessed to the point where he had a picture of her taped to the back of his cell phone," Fischer said.
That didn't stop Cuellar, according to Fischer. He said Cuellar started showing up to the gym when Aguilar was working out. It prompted her to switch gyms multiple times.
He also was bombarding Aguilar with messages, ranging from telling her he loved her to sending threats.
One of the most concerning clues was Cuellar's most recent Facebook post from the end of June.
"Getting my membership back at [name of gym]. See you soon," it said.
“The poor girl was just scared to death of him," Fischer said.
Before Aguilar went missing, she said she was heading to the store. That's where her car was later found abandoned with her personal belongings inside.
Days later, police made the grim discovery.
Aguilar's family has set up a GoFundMe to send her remains back to Honduras. You can donate by clicking here.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
“This is just so sad. This guy, just what he did to her family, is just heartbreaking," Fischer said.
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